


passenger

by peridotdotdot



Category: Hatoful Kareshi | Hatoful Boyfriend
Genre: Angst, Friendship, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-07
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-11-20 12:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/585420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peridotdotdot/pseuds/peridotdotdot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[post-BBL] Awakening, speeding along to catch up with the months gone by, with the one stable thing left in life. It's not the best it could be, but maybe this time, it will be all right.</p><p>(cross-posted from ff.net)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. home

  
**home**  
So far from home, so far to go,  
and we've only just begun.

Lay your heart out, we're not coming back.

* * *

Mostly, he had been tired upon waking up.

Sakuya had been there, outside of the operating room, pacing about nervously, worried about all the things that could go wrong despite the reassurances of the operating team that everything would go perfectly smoothly, _thank you very much for your concern sir we have this covered_. There wasn't anyone else waiting with him - the others were too busy or had, somehow, managed to fall off the face of all Japan. If anything, waiting alone made him feel even more nervous than if he had someone around to take his frustration out on.

As soon as Ryouta was wheeled out of the room, hooked up to all sorts of odd this-es and thats and very much not resembling himself at all (no smiles, no laughing, no playful quips), Sakuya was right alongside him, shooting rapid-fire questions at the doctors about how the procedure had gone and if everything looked okay and how long it would take for Ryouta to actually _wake up_ and should he look so _deathly_ -

Sakuya had ended up sitting in a room in the recovery unit, practically glued to Ryouta's bed, accompanied only by the steady beeping of the machine monitoring vitals, waiting for a good fifteen minutes (it felt like three and a half lifetimes) before the other boy began to _finally_ stir.

"Kawara!" He was considerate enough to not yell loudly, not considering enough to think jumping up and clinging to the bed railing and rattling it was a bad idea.

"S ... Sakuya?" Confused and groggy, Ryouta looked around the room, seeming to at first think he must have waken up from a nap. "Good ... morning?"

He tried to sit up, honestly put a good effort into it, and Sakuya moved to help him before he hurt himself or ripped out one of the lines connecting him to an IV drip or one of the other odd devices. The aristocrat ended up half sitting on the bed, Ryouta leaning heavily against him, an entirely awkward position.

"'M not at home, am I ...?" Ryouta's eyelids were already starting to flutter again, as if the whole moving business had sapped what little energy he had.

"Stay awake!" Sakuya commanded, jolting the other boy awake. He didn't want Ryouta to fall asleep again, some lingering fear in the back of his mind that he wouldn't wake up next time. "You're in the hospital, Kawara."

"The hospital ..." Ryouta remained silent for a long moment, and Sakuya was afraid that he had drifted back to sleep until he spoke. "... so it wasn't a dream."

It took only a moment for Sakuya to understand what he was talking about.

"Of course not, you fool." There was a severe lack of venom in Sakuya's voice compared to normal. He moved to return Ryouta back to a resting position, just as one of the nurses fluttered in.

"Oh, you're awake!" she chirped, and before he realized what was going on a flurry of doctors was filing into the room and Sakuya was being shoved out and he was _angry_ now because he'd specifically requested to be with Ryouta the entire time and -

He pressed his hands against his eyes until he saw stars, sinking down against the wall and suddenly feeling entirely homesick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a long inner debate with myself as to whether use their human forms or keep them as birds because human form wouldn't make sense but then how write movements and actions of bird body parts and - ugh, difficult. humans it is.
> 
> I started writing on shuffle but wow crap songs so I went to albums and this album was the first to play.  
> also, I adore the beachside(?) performance of this song more than the album version, but both are fantastic: http://youtube.com/watch?v=csaHks2gydQ
> 
> Next chapter/track is 'a sail' and should be out eventually.


	2. a sail

  
**a sail**  
Of you and I, I was the loudest.  
While you stayed quiet, we were surrounded.  
You were never one for chronic chattering

It's long gone, that carry-on from December.  
I will roll my heart up in my sleeve.

* * *

Months had gone by and things had happened while Ryouta was asleep. One of his first questions, once he and Sakuya were alone, were able to speak without a nurse hovering overhead and all the clamor and commotion had died down, was, "Is my mother ...?"

And Sakuya had swallowed the lump that had been building in his throat, formed from the anxiety of knowing that the question was bound to happen. He didn't have enough time to prepare for it, to come up with something to soften the blow for his friend.

"She ... I ..." he had to gather his words, stitch them together into something gentle instead of some piercing blow. "I gave her the best medical treatment, sent her to one of the greatest hospitals in Japan, even called in doctors from around the world."

Ryouta could already sense what was coming, attempted to brace himself for the inevitable. He clutched tightly onto the thin hospital blanket draped over him, as if it would ground him from the shock.

"She improved greatly for a while, but then ..." Sakuya trailed off and found himself unable to continue looking at Ryouta. Admitting it was tough. Seeing  
his reaction would be tougher.

"It happened last month."

Sakuya didn't know what he was expecting from Ryouta, whether it would be an outburst or him just clamming up and shutting the world out.

Instead, Ryouta let out a sharp exhale, shaped like a 'ha', and slouched over limply. Sakuya glanced at him, the tenseness of his fists in a white-knuckled grip on the sneets and the sharpness of his breathing and became acutely aware of how useless he felt at that moment, how he felt the need to do something with his hands like maybe reach out and rub Ryouta's back or maybe give him a (manly) hug or maybe just hit him and tell him to get over it or _something_.

But he didn't.

Sakuya didn't have anything to say. He was never the one to cushion things, to care of the weight his words carried and for the impact they left on people. He'd never had to. But Ryouta was a boy of weak build, brittle bird bones, strong in his tenacity yet only capable of so much before he hit his limits. It was a wonder he had made it through that long day so many months ago without being a completely different person. But it was maybe all too  
surreal now to have fully sunken into his bones.

Ryouta tugged harshly on one lock of his hair and made a choked noise.

Sakuya looked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> brittle bird bones I am terrible someone hurt me I don't deserve to write.
> 
> A Sail is terribly beautiful and you should listen to it: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q_1waO0pJuo
> 
> Next chapter/track is Knots, which will happen someday, maybe certainly?


	3. knots

**knots**  
I tie the knots to remember in my heart,  
so I choke and I sputter to a stop,  
I am a borrower and lender of the lot.

* * *

Being completely alone was something that Ryouta had never really thought he would experience - he had, somewhere in his heart, hoped that everything would work out in the end and maybe his mother would miraculously recover and maybe he could stop finding himself in situations where people got sick and died and maybe he could even find his own little happily ever after somewhere in there and have a wife and two point five kids.

It wasn't as if he was expecting all of that, but he would have liked at least one or two of the things to come true.

Sakuya had his own things to attend to, paperwork and legalities that came with pulling so many strings to ensure that Ryouta would be pulled out of his little cryogenic state without any symptoms of all the things his body had been subjected to under the guise of care.

He didn't want to stomach the thought that someone had done so much for him, would have cared enough to have done it all, because it was odd and he was so used to being independent and making his own way and keeping track of his own problems that it was almost odd to have it all pulled away so suddenly.

(Suddenly for him - it felt like just yesterday he'd been getting groped by perverse old men while serving them drinks in a pink maid dress)

They had deemed him well enough to go home, able to move around with little assistance as long as he had crutches to lean on and places to sit down when he legs started feeling too weak or his head started to spin with dizziness, odd lingering effects of what his body had endured.

If his house had felt empty before, now it felt like ghosts roamed the place. He'd walked in to a fine layer of dust covering most everything, and he had desperately wanted to start cleaning away the mess and make the place look like it hadn't been left alone for so long, been all but abandoned, but by the time he'd hobbled to the kitchen and grabbed a rag and some cleaner, he was exhausted and had to sit down and regain himself.

He swiped the cloth around on the table and sprayed some of the cleaner on it before dropping the items on it, along with his head. He was too tired for this, too tired to have this all rushing at him at once because he was still just a kid and he needed a breather and maybe being stuck in a freezer clutching the jar of brains belonging to his best friend was probably better than this after all.

The odd silence of the house was unsettling in the same way that wandering through a school late at night would be. It was even more so after all the bustle that his life had been for the last couple of weeks - doctors and nurses everywhere, Sakuya almost constantly hovering over him, even a couple of other familiar faces dropping in (one of which he had nearly tackled to the ground and strangled, if not for the fact he had been too weak to jump up and do so).

Frankly, this house didn't feel much like home anymore, and Ryouta was unsure if he'd manage staying around it much longer. It carried too many memories that he did not want to face on a daily basis.

He'd move. Eventually. He knew Sakuya would help him (but would he be asking too much?). He would carry the memories with him elsewhere, tie them up into knots and remember them in other ways. It was less painful that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been like a week but wow, suddenly a swamped work schedule! Working at a big-name toy store during the holidays is a special kind of agony, akin to punching yourself in the face repeatedly for eight hours a day.
> 
> the video for Knots is really ridiculous but I love it: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nYdPtcx-4mo
> 
> Next will be What'll I Do, something I'm pondering as I figure out the rest of my plan to get from point A to point B in this fic.


	4. what'll I do

  
**what'll i do**  
what'll i do without you around  
my words won't pun, my pennies won't pound

and all of my hours limp into days, what'll I do without you?

Oh, I don't know what to do with myself  
now that I'm  
here

and you're  
gone

* * *

Before, life had been busy with Ryouta - his time was filled with schoool, with homework, with multiple jobs, with _Hiyoko_ , him always on his toes, fluttering from one thing to the next.

Now, it was just ... slow.

There was a certain urge clawing around inside of him that told him to move, do something, anything, really, but he was still weak and recovering. Things didn't feel like they were working properly without him on the move, and though he was well aware the world was still functioning just fine without him there and interacting with it, everything just felt so off, as if time was starting to blend together into one thing.

Even on days when he'd been confined in the house from being ill, he'd still had someone to keep things going, one bundle of energy buzzing in and out and regaling him with tales of wrestling bears or some crazy thing like that, but she was gone now. There wasn't anything to keep the world in motion -

There was a knock on the front door.

"It's me."

"S'open," Ryouta called out, the stillness of the atmosphere broken.

The door swung open and Sakuya walked in, and though to the untrained eye or one unfamiliar with him, he seemed the same as ever, Ryouta could detect a brief hint of something like tiredness hovering over him.

"Kawara," Sakuya greeted, taking a seat at the table. He frowned a little down at the layer of dust that seemed to have taken permanent residence on the surface, but made no mention of it. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I guess." The statement was so half-hearted as to be unbelieveable.

"I see."

To say their conversations had started to become clipped was an understatement. Sakuya took a brief moment to consider another topic to bring up.

"I've finished most of the arrangements," he said suddenly.

"For?" Ryouta asked, a tad puzzled.

Sakuya shifted his gaze a bit to the left of Ryouta's head, something the other boy had come to notice as a little tick that he did when he was a tad uncomfortable with something.

"I'll be residing here for a few days."

Oh.

Well, maybe there was at least one thing in Ryouta's life that kept it at a steady pace, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I am terrible at updating hello there. I am still 90% unsure what I'm doing with this. It's a character fault.
> 
> What'll I Do is a bit of a frantic song and the official music video is adorable but since Vevo is lame here's a video that isn't the official: http://youtube.com/watch?v=exuBCzDHdY8
> 
> Coming up next is O Sleep, which is forecasted as angsty. Huzzah!


	5. o sleep

O sleep, come for me, I will go quietly,  
where the roof doesn't leak in my heart.

I'll be too gone to care how grey the day is,  
the dreams that it chases away; they stay asleep.

* * *

Ryouta didn't really know what to _do_ with himself after the move. The Le Bel residence was startlingly huge, in a way that made Ryouta actually feel a little faint, and he was nearly a hundred percent certain that he would end up lost in some part of the place once he reached the point of being able to stand more than fifteen minutes at a time.

Being mostly bedridden and stuck in one hall of the manor, he found himself more restless than anything. A weak, slowly recovering body and one viciously bright mind made for a poor combination.

Living in the Le Bel manor proved to at least allow Sakuya to visit Ryouta more often, today being one of those days. Sakuya had brought a small stack of files with him, filled with different papers he needed to work on. Though days like these tended to be filled with silence, it was at least a comfortable one.

Ryouta had taken a seat at the table Sakuya was working at, propping a book open, but in time the quiet scratching of pen to paper started to lull him into a gentle sleep.

"You should lay down if you're tired," Sakuya said, voice breaking the silence. Ryouta jerked back awake at the sound.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to." He hadn't, though he thought maybe all those restless nights filled with bad dreams were starting to catch up to him.

Sakuya laid his pen down on his paper, fixing Ryouta with a stare that probably could freeze lava.

"Well?" He folded his arms over his chest and Ryouta felt a bit like a little kid getting scolded for staying up too late.

The problem was that Ryouta knew Sakuya would leave if he went to lay down, then the room would be overtaken by silence, and then Ryouta would be unable to fall asleep over the stillness. It haunted him far too often, and anything that felt remotely comforting he needed.

"... I will," Sakuya made to start fixing up the papers he had set out to work on, but Ryouta pushed forward before he could really get set to leave, "but only if you stay."

Sakuya froze, reminding Ryouta a bit of a deer caught in the headlights. "You want me to stay."

He obviously understood the meaning, but the underlying reason of 'why' seemed to cling to his repetition. Ryouta swallowed a lump in his throat because his reason was probably foolish and something Sakuya would scoff at.

He took a quiet breath, steeled his nerves, and decided to use the fierce red eyes he had inherited from his mother to his advantage. He met Sakuya's stare and held his gaze; tried to use his eyes instead of words to plead his case.

It seemed to work. Sakuya lost the tenseness in his form and sighed.

"Fine."

Ryouta released the breath he was holding.

"Thank you."

He slept wonderfully, peacefully, for the first time in what felt like years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I stayed up until 3:20 am cranking out some writing for this. I am terribly apologetic for letting this stagnate.
> 
> O Sleep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5J6_sXKvFo  
> Next will be Paper House. We've hit the halfway point, things should hopefully go far smoother in these last stretches.


	6. paper house

We were all that we had  
and breathed in each others words,  
I would ask for truth and  
you'd look for something to burn.

* * *

One night, long after the sun had set, Ryouta had decided he wanted a trip out on the grounds. Maybe he was becoming a little too spoiled. He didn't really care.

Sakuya had, of course, decided he would accompany his friend, partially as a breather from his own life stresses, but mostly due to some odd need to spend time with Ryouta, who seemed so small and alone more than ever.

To his credit, Ryouta was getting better everyday, and the efforts of regaining his strength were paying off. He managed to make it out to one of the benches in the heart of the garden before he needed to rest.

"It's really nice out," Ryouta noted, tilting his head back and admiring the speckles of stars above. With a new moon out, he could make out more stars without the satellite's glow illuminating the sky.

Sakuya made a light noise of agreement. Ryouta leaned forward and tilted his head to get a proper look at him: he was wearing an expression that Ryouta was all too familiar with, the one that said he wanted to talk something serious.

Ryouta fought the urge to hobble away. Serious talks were not his forte.

"Kawara," he began. It was too late to make an escape.

"... yeah?"

"You're not adjusting well, are you?"

Though he still felt almost like a burden in this household, he tried to deflect the question a little. "What makes you say that?"

"The maids."

Those damned gossipers. Ryouta made a note to tell the maids he wanted them to check up on him less.

He didn't quite know how to respond so he stood up instead. "It's kinda late. I should go to bed."

Sakuya wasn't a quitter, however, and wanted answers. He practically stalked Ryouta to his room, though he was surprised the weakened boy made it there so quickly.

Ryouta almost succeeded in getting his bedroom door closed and locked, but Sakuya shoved a foot between the door and the frame and managed to push his way in.

"Kawara." It was a demand this time, and Sakuya could be downright scary when he wasn't being a haughty bastard. "Tell me."

He made a point to close and lean against the door to prevent Ryouta from making any escapes. Trapped, Ryouta looked almost like a wounded animal.

It was a long time before either party made a move. Ryouta, unable to bear the heavy silence finally broke it. His eyes almost glowed in the darkness of the room and even though they were standing so far apart, Sakuya could see the frustration glimmering in them.

"It's too quiet," Ryouta said, voice a little hopeless. "It's so quiet and  
it's unfamiliar and-" -this was the tough part to admit- "-and I'm lonely."

Sakuya weighed the words in the silence that ensued, trying to ponder his next move, but Ryouta continued on, pushing forward in either bravery or foolishness.

"You're barely around. I don't see anyone except the staff. I'm cooped up in this section of the house all day. Don't you get what it's doing to me?"

Ryouta was the type who lived off of freedom. He needed space to stretch his wings and fly, but he was trapped in the Le Bel household with nowhere else to go.

Sakuya's brow creased.

"You're not alone," he said.

"I _am_ ," Ryouta said, firmer than ever.

"You're not!" He didn't know when it happened - neither of them did - but Sakuya had made his way over to Ryouta and was gripping him fiercely by the arms, glaring into his eyes.

He had done so much for Ryouta, supported him when there was no one else there, and yet he had the gall to say he was alone.

"You are not alone." It sounded almost more like Sakuya was convincing himself than Ryouta.

"You don't understand," Ryouta said, voice a whisper, and he looked so vulnerable and brave meeting the anger that slowly dissipated out of Sakuya's eyes.

"Idiot," Sakuya said. Ryouta made a small choking noise, keening forward and letting his head fall against Sakuya's chest, hands gripping loosely at the lapels of his jacket.

"Don't leave me alone," he whimpered.

Both boys understood, and they sat one curled into the other, unable to express how much they did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had someone ask me why Yuuya hasn't randomly shown up in his ever-so gentlemanly manner because he's Sakuya's loving ~~stalker~~ brother. I want you to picture him lurking behind a corner. Now picture him doing that in every scene in this story, but then Albert quietly shows up and tosses him several yards away.
> 
> paper house: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6W7NEurJi0
> 
> Next up is Little Bird.


	7. little bird

You are lonely as a church,  
despite the queuing out your door.  
I am empty as a promise, no more.

When the time comes and rights have been read,  
I think of you often  
but for once I meant what I said.

* * *

"I'm not that big on sleeping these days," Ryouta said, as if confessing to some dreaded sin. Really though, what boy his age didn't like sleeping?

"Me neither," Sakuya said, though he slept far more peacefully than Ryouta did in recent times.

"Liar." The red of Ryouta's eyes practically glowed with their accusation in the faint moonlight that lit up the room. Another night, the second time Sakuya stayed with Ryouta late.

Sakuya almost bristled at that. "A Le Bel does not tell lies."

"No one admits to lying, except maybe a fool." Ryouta curled his legs up to his chest, hugging his knees close. The clock had long ticked past midnight, and he was looking tired. Sakuya was in no better condition, but he did his best to remain sitting with proper posture and not show how drowsy he was.

Ryouta stared with half-lidded eyes at Sakuya, almost examining him. He spoke again after a moment. "If you're tired, go to sleep."

"I'm fine," Sakuya said, shooting a half-hearted glare at Ryouta.

"I thought a Le Bel didn't tell lies." Sakuya muttered something under his breath, but Ryouta caught it and laughed a little. He sounded better than he had in a while.

"I'll be fine," he said. "Go ahead and go to sleep."

"You expect me to walk across the entire building at this hour?" Sakuya huffed. It felt like a weak excuse to stay in Ryouta's room a little longer, but neither boy had the urge to point out how thinly-veiled it was.

"Have Albert carry you back."

Sakuya made a face that clearly said that was out of the question. Ryouta suddenly felt rather awake, swallowing a slight lump in his throat as he offered his final solution.

"Sleep here."

The two locked eyes for a brief moment and Ryouta thought he saw the slightest flush on Sakuya's face at the mention.

Ryouta shifted on the bed a little awkwardly before quickly flopping over and yanking the blankets up over his head.

"I'm suddenly tired," he said, embarrassed he'd even made the offer. He could hear Sakuya's boots on the floor, but the sound quickly hushed. Ryouta breathed a soft sigh, thinking Sakuya had left.

He felt the bed dip slightly at the other end.

"I will stay," Sakuya said. Ryouta heard his boots hit the floor. He curled himself in the sheets until he was certain he'd be tangled in them come morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love it when I'm terrible at making chapters work with the songs I'm writing to. Oh well.
> 
> Little Bird: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRdj8MRj9Js
> 
> next up is the title song. We'll figure out what I'm doing for it when I get there.


	8. passenger

**passenger**   
I have smuggled you as cargo,  
though you are far away unknowing.  
I have packed you in my suitcase,  
ironed the creases from my own remembering.  
Oh my satellite, oh my passenger ...

* * *

 

  
She frowned deeply into the pot on the stove, standing atop a small stepladder on her tippy-toes.

"Looks funny," she declared.

"How so?" Ryouta's mother swooped in, tucking hair behind her ear and wiping her hands off on a towel tucked into her pants. She peered into the pot over the head of the little girl. "It looks fine to me."

"But there's no noodles." The little girl scrunched her nose up. "How'm I s'posed to eat udon without noodles?"

"Well," Mrs. Kawara began, "this isn't udon, for one."

"It isn't?" The girl shot Mrs. Kawara a scandalized look.

"It isn't. We're having yakisoba," Ryouta took this chance to pipe up from his spot at the table.

"Udon is better." The little girl was very firm on this point. "In fact, it's the best meal for us growing youth!"

"I'll make some for dinner tomorrow, then." Mrs. Kawara laughed a little at her enthusiasm.

* * *

 

  
"C'mon Ryouta, don't be scared!" the little girl, slightly older, called from the bottom of the steep hill. Her voice barely reached Ryouta from his position at the top, over the din of the other children playing in the area. She waved her arms as if it would add volume to her voice, but she seemed so far away and the sudden increase in the snowfall wasn't helping his nerves at all.

"It's really far down," Ryouta said to himself, fiddling nervously with the tassles at the end of his scarf. He couldn't feel his nose anymore.

"Do it!!" she started jumping up and down to encourage him. He swallowed his nerves. If she could do it, then he could, too.

Ryouta rubbed his gloved hands together, ignoring the fact that he felt like a popsicle and, taking a deep breath, shoved off so that his sled careened down the hill.

* * *

 

  
Her uniform was different than his, for she had been accepted into a different school once they had entered junior high.

"Yours looks better," she decided, nodding to herself. She reached out a hand and tugged on Ryouta's sleeve, pulling him closer to her and nearly yanking him off balance. "Cool stripes."

"Eh?" Ryouta fought to keep the blush from his features. "You think?"

"Yep!" she released his arm, giving him a chance to stop his heart from bursting out of his chest. "Kinda lame we aren't going to the same school, though."

"You should apply again next year," he said.

She beamed at him, thumping a fist against her chest. "I've conquered endless challenges!  They'll have to accept me!"

She was always so confident.

* * *

 

  
"How do I look?" she asked, spinning around and causing her skirt to flare out.

"Your socks are uneven," Ryouta said.

"Huh?" She stopped twirling to stare down at her legs. "Oh, yeah. Good thing I have you around!" Bending down, she quickly adjusted her socks until Ryouta voiced his approval.

Standing back up, she planted her hands on her hips.

"W-what?" He withered a little beneath her intense stare.

"How'd you get so much fashion sense, anyway?" Her head quirked to the side.

Ryouta smiled mischievously at her. "That's my little secret."

She grinned back at him. "I'll figure it out one day. Until then, we'll just say you're my character foil."

"Your _what_?"

* * *

 

  
Ryouta found her slumped over her desk, staring fiercely at the blackboard, where a list of school clubs was written.

"Which do I join?" she said, cheeks puffing out as they always did when she was confronted with an odd choice.

"Don't join astronomy," Ryouta advised. "I hear they do weird things."

Her head lolled to the side so she could look up at him. "Like what?"

"I think they started a cult." Despite his warning, her eyes lit up.

"Ooh, sounds neat. I don't think I could do that, though. My family is Buddhist, after all."

"Right," Ryouta nodded.

"What about birdwatching?"

He made a face. "Isn't that a little boring?"

"But I can use my hunter-gatherer skills to climb trees and find birds!" She almost had a sparkle in her eye at the thought. If there was one thing she loved, it was putting to use her physical prowess.

"I ... don't think that's how it works."

She shoved herself upwards, folding her arms. "Well, that doesn't leave much."

"You'd probably like the track team," Ryouta said.

"I run all the way home, though." She stood up from the chair. "I think I'll check out the infirmary. Yuuya said it was a super easy club!"

He tried to stop her because the doctor was creepy as hell, but she was a difficult one to persuade.

* * *

 

Ryouta opened his eyes, expecting his old bedroom, only to be greeted by a white ceiling that definitely wasn't his. One of his hands held a pillow in a white-knuckled death grip that even he wasn't aware he could manage. He uncurled his fingers one by one, blinked twice, and remembered to breathe.

"Kawara?" Sakuya's voice broke him out of his reverie. Ryouta remembered where he was.

"One moment," he said.

"I'll wait."

That was all he needed to hear.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You would think I'd devote the title chapter to actual romancin' but I am (un)surprising like this.
> 
> Passenger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6FrV0uR_Ks
> 
> Next up is Safe Travels (Don't Die).


End file.
